In A Small Anatomy, four performers explore the body and learn to understand it more deeply. Through dance and live music, they embark on a journey across all limbs, sensations, and emotions that belong to the body. At first everything unfolds in an orderly way, but soon a playful spirit of discovery emerges. Feet lift off the ground, thumbs dance in every direction, and climb onto each other’s shoulders.
Together with the audience, the performers discover that our bodies are all different. Sometimes they fit together perfectly, other times it is precisely a big toe that gets in the way.
De Dansers is a company based in Utrecht composed of dancers and musicians, led by choreographer and dancer Josephine van Rheenen and composer and musician Guy Corneille. They are known for their “danced concerts”: organic encounters between contemporary dance and live music. De Dansers’ performances tell accessible and intuitively engaging stories about liberation and surrender, in which a playful anarchism is never far away. Their aim is to free people from what can make them feel stuck, or to create moments of stillness where attention is required. They create works that speak to children’s vitality and awaken in adults forgotten desires for surrender and physical connection.
Josephine van Rheenen (1988) studied Dance Education at the Theaterschool in Amsterdam and began working as a dancer with De Dansers during her studies. After five years on stage with, among others, De Dansers, Vloeistof, and Breekgoed, she succeeded Wies Merkx as artistic director of De Dansers in 2014, together with Guy Corneille. Since then, she has created works for De Dansers for both children and adults. As a choreographer, van Rheenen seeks humanity in dance and aspires to an intuitive choreographic language based on instinct. Openness, surrender, and interaction are key concepts in her work.
Choreography Josephine van Rheenen, together with performers
Live music and composition Hans Vermunt
Performers Anna Bentivegna, Arturo Vargas, Hans Vermunt, Maxime Smeets
Dramaturgy Moniek Merkx
Artistic advice Guy Corneille
Light design Tim van ‘t Hof
By the idea of Anna Bentivegna
Sound engineers Chieljan van der Hoek, Samia te Nuijl
Production Danae Bos
Business director Miriam Gilissen
Education Sanne Wichman
Marketing and publicity Lizzy Schreijer
Acquisition Frontaal Theaterbureau
Artwork 75B
Thanks to Yoko Haveman, Timme Afschrift
